Plea Bargaining System - Essay Example

Plea Bargaining Plea bargaining is a system in legal area where the prosecution comes in an agreement with defense by which the accused changes hisplea from guilty to guilty for a offer by the prosecution to reduce his sentence if accused guilty. Plea bargaining creates a gap between theory and practice in criminal justice system. With plea bargaining the concentration shifted from the jury and judge to prosecutor and defense. Plea bargaining is fairly common in America and almost 90% of criminal cases practice it. However many countries do not allow plea bargaining due to moral and ethical reasons. Plea bargaining is subject to the court approval and can vary according to state and federal laws. The plea bargaining was established in United States of America in 1970. The American justice does promote plea bargaining where judge acts in a passive role. This system is also known as negotiation a plea or bargaining a plea. Many criminal cases are resolved by agreement outside court. In this system, the defendant can avoid waste of time and cost. They can get away from harsher punishments. The trial period can be shortened and there is no uncertainty involved in the case. Both the sides have to propose a plea bargain and negotiate on it. Plea bargaining is a system in which the defendant plead guilty for a lesser charge. Plea bargaining, as currently practiced in American criminal courts, has perverted that power. The plea bargaining makes a leniency on the defendant with the effort of prosecutor. However, in this situation, the judge has no obligation to follow the prosecution. Many plea bargains are subjected to the approval of the court. Plea bargaining is a private activity but this changing as victim right groups are gaining importance. According to victim right status victim has the right to input in the plea bargaining process. This system is a grace for defendants who do not have proper financial ability to afford their own attorney. Plea bargaining is an agreement with the state. Usually the details of plea bargaining are known to public until after court announcement. According to (Sandeufer)“In recent decades, courts have upheld extreme and unfair prosecutorial tactics in negotiating plea bargains”. The validity of the plea bargaining is depended on some essential components. There should be knowledge of waiver of rights. There should be a voluntary waiver. There should be a factual basis to support the charges on which the guilty pleading is being done. Plea bargaining generally occurs on prosecutor’s office at the courtroom or on telephone. Judges get involved only in rare circumstances. Plea bargains accepted by the judge are then trialed in the open court. It is mandatory for the defendant to be present at the open court during the process. One essential point is that the prosecuting attorney has no authority to force court into a plea bargaining acceptance. Prosecuting attorney only can recommend the court to accept plea bargaining. The court will take into consideration proof to check that essential component of plea bargaining are satisfied before the acceptance of the negotiation. However, plea bargaining is not a simple as many believe. For the effective acceptance of plea bargaining, the prosecutor must have technical knowledge of all the aspect of the criminal case. Nevertheless, due to the voluntary nature of plea bargaining there is much restriction on it in federal court. Plea bargaining is not created by law but it is only a legal practice. As per (Montaldo) “In a plea bargain deal, both sides gain something from the arrangement. The prosecution gains a conviction without the time and expense of a trial, while the defendant might get a reduced sentence or have some of the charges against him dropped”. Plea bargaining has justification as overcrowded courts, overloaded caseloads with prosecutor and defendants can save time and money in trial. However there are many challenges to plea bargaining system. There are many types of plea bargaining and they are as follows; a) Charge bargaining – This is the most common form of plea bargaining in U.S. Here the defendant agrees to a lesser charge provided that there will be a dismissal of greater charges. An example would be to plead a man slaughter rather than a murder. In this case, even some of the charges against the defendant can be lessened by the prosecution if agreed to be guilty. For example; a defendant charged with burglary may be given a chance to plead guilty for “attempted burglary”. Charge bargaining is an important form of plea deal in criminal sentencing. It is a form of exchange of confession by both parties which may also mean that defendant will plead guilty to charge which is less serious or to one of several charges. Here, the sentence will be more lenient in nature than the original one. The proposal for charge bargaining should not to be considered by the prosecution unless; Charges should be in accordance with the nature of the criminal conduct of the accused. Those charges provide a basis for a relevant sentencing in all circumstances of the case There is evidence to support the charges. According to (Fisher,2003,pg 23-30) “In no circumstances should the prosecution entertain a charge-bargaining proposal if the accused maintains his or her innocence with respect to a charge or charges to which the accused has offered to plead guilty. b) Fact bargaining – It is a less common type of plea bargaining comparing to charge bargaining. When some facts are disregards the intensity of the crime is reduced which will give lesser punishment to the defendant. Here there is fact manipulation so that the defendant gets lesser punishment. The aggravating factual circumstances in the crime are not disclosed in the court. In this type of bargaining the defendant do not have to plead guilty ,which is known as non contender plea It is a rare form of plea bargaining and it happened when the defendant agreed to stipulate some facts in order to prevent other facts being shown as evidence. In this bargaining the prosecution does not agree with the events of the defendant but accomplice for a leniency on certain facts so that he gets lesser charges on him. Some facts regarding the crime may be kept by the prosecutor and would not be exposed in the court. According to ( Kayne,2014)“ Fact bargaining can also involve other agreements such as arranging for the defendant to go to a particular prison, giving the defendant immunity against crimes for which he has not been charged, or attempting to get charges in other jurisdictions dismissed”. C) Sentence bargaining-In this bargaining the exact terms of the sentence is told in advance to the defendant. For this an approval is required from the judge. High profile criminal cases use sentence bargaining from time to time where the prosecutor guarantees a conviction which has accepted by the defendant. In this bargaining the defendant accepts the sentence decided by the prosecutor. d) Count bargaining -In this bargaining the defendant agrees to enter an agreement where he will plead guilty in exchange of dismissal of additional charges often duplicates of the original charges. For example a criminal having five charges on mischief can plead guilty for dismissal of four charges against the first charge. Conclusion Plea bargaining is a process in legal system which is often used in criminal cases. It is a comforting act for both prosecutor and the defendant. Plea bargaining are of different types and depends upon the purpose and nature of crime. However plea bargains has some guidelines which need to be applied to be in process. Plea bargaining has been an ethical issue in professional conduct of law practitioners. According to (Cassidy,2011.pg 1-14) “A prosecutor should attempt to achieve horizontal equity across cases and across time. That is, similarly situated defendants should be treated similarly in terms of the deals they are offered.51 Exact equality of circumstance is difficult to imagine—even with similarly charged crimes—because defendants differ in their criminal records, and crimes are committed with differing levels of impact on the community” Many find that plea bargaining allow the criminals to escape from punishment which they deserve. This can have a negative impact on the judiciary system of a country and the community as a whole. The criminals feel that they can manipulate their sentence and punishment which make them think that law is of less importance. In plea bargaining, it is important that the prosecutor favor or disfavor a defendant and work according to the criminal case give him punishment utmost with a slight leniency. Plea bargaining should not be taken as a aspect to manipulate to exploit judicial system of a country. Reference Cassidy, M. (2011). Some Reflections on Ethics and Plea Bargaining. Sandiego Law Review, 48(1), 1-19. Fisher, G. (2003). PLEA BARGAINING’S TRIUMPH: A HISTORY OF PLEA BARGAINING IN AMERICA. Stanford University America, 13(11), 123-130. Kayne, R. (2014). What are Plea Bargains?. In http://www.wisegeek.com. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-plea-bargains.htm Montaldo, C. (2013). The Plea Bargain Stage of a Criminal Case. In http://crime.about.com. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://crime.about.com/od/Crime_101/a/The-Plea-Bargain-Stage-Of-A-Criminal-Case.htm Sandefur, T. (2003). Plea Bargaining. In http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org. 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